Week Eight: Mystical Philosophy

Film: Gumby Land

                It was incredible to see how people can believe such outrageous things. The fact that people believed “Gumby” was actually some kind of spiritual symbol was just… indescribably shocking and insane. I guess because I am not a believer of their religion, it may seem that I am being very bias in my thinking, but logically thinking, it just seems purely outrageous.

                I believe people need to research a little bit more before believing “nonsense” claims. They also call these claims “Gumby Land thinking” because of the relation it has to what happened with Gumby Land. All this nonsense that was not even researched or scientifically tested and the fact that people actually believed it, was incredibly shocking. People need to be a little more skeptic about certain things, such as these kinds of matters.

Film: Voodoo Voodoo

                The story on the chant was very miraculous. The fact that it actually happened and chance happened to be on your side when you chanted, was very interesting. If I were in the same situation, I would be shocked and in awe of this miraculous sight. Although I wouldn’t believe it completely, I would definitely be tempted to believe in this type of voodoo.

                Intended wishes really came into thought when watching this video. It is so true that we tend to remember only the times that our “voodoos” work, but not the countless misses that we encounter. Our minds force us to believe that these chants and rituals actually work by eliminating all of the misses from our memories, but letting only the times when these events actually happen stay. It was overall a very interesting and remindful video.

Film: The Mummy vs. The Wolfman

                Wow this video had so many abstract ideas. They were abstract but at the same time, very clear in what it was trying to say. For example, nonexistence is impossible because for us to be nonexistent, it would mean that we need to experience absolute death, which lead to consciousness because experience relies on awareness.

                All the concepts in the video truly influenced my thinking on life and death. It influenced me in a sense that complete and absolute death, as monks think is nonexistent, and that it is impossible to preserve life forever, in a physical sense. In order to be “immortal,” one has to be physically immune to death, which would be impossible because of the future circumstances that is about to come in a billion years. This was very interesting and thoughtful, making my brain constantly work as I was watching this video.

Film: The Zahir

               As the narrator said in the video, money is nothing more than just the future. A possible opportunity to play games, watch a movie, drink a cup of coffee, etc. Money, other than being physical, is more philosophical and abstract. It contains so many possibilities that cannot even be accounted for. This was the initial thought I received from the beginning of the video.

                Other than that, I did not know what the video was trying to portray, because it wasn’t very clear in its meanings. I tried very hard to think about the meanings each part of the video showed, but I could not think of anything special that really clicked in me. Other than the fact that Zahir are things that are left in the mind, haunting you for the rest of your life, I really didn’t know what the video was trying to tell me. It was too complicated for me to fully understand the true meaning behind the abstractness.

Film: Flame On

                “We simply don’t know what is our best or worst quality.” I thought this statement was very true, because the things that we believe is true at times may be viewed differently in another time. The example that the video used was great, of how a scientific breakthrough in astronomy was view as a criminal act, is now something of a past time. This shows how philosophy and our thoughts are continually growing and evolving.

                As for homosexuality, I am definitely against it, although my generation may evolve and change their thoughts on this concept.  The very fact that our bodies were made purely for a man and a woman’s sexual relations prove that fact that homosexuality is wrong. Even though many may argue against me with new ideas regarding this matter, I can clearly and most definitely state my opinion of homosexuality being wrong.

Film: Believer vs. Skeptic, Crop Circles

                This video showed me that no matter what kind of argument one makes, once someone makes up one’s mind, it is nearly impossible to change that person’s viewpoint on certain subjects. I believe in psychological terms, it is called confirmation bias, where even if there are definite evidence that something is not true or not right, that person who made an initial hypothesis will continue to pursue its theory.

                The argument the people had in this video was very pointless because they did not give up on their viewpoints. Neither one of them were trying to listen to each other, but just argue away into trying to prove their points, which was very pointless because there wasn’t any good communication and information getting through each other’s heads. I’ve learned that once a skeptic or a believer, it is nearly impossible to convince one to change ones mindset.